Back in the old days, I used to play an occasional game of Striker along with my CT, but never had Snapshot or Azhanti High Lightning. Now that I have the Long Black Books with those two games in them as well, I was wondering whether people had used Striker, SS, or AHL as replacement combat systems for CT and what their experiences were with this? I seem to remember using Striker once or twice in a CT session, but nothing long term.
CT combat using the games
- Thread starter Dr_Skull
- Start date
Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
I've never used them myself as I like the LBB1 combat system, but people have been using the Striker and AHL combat system with Traveller since the CT days.
There's an article about it in the JTAS, if you've got those Long Black Books or the CT CD-ROM.
I've used AHL/Striker (they are functionally the same for combat resolution, differing only in movement and secondary action rules) both with AHL/Striker style wound levels and by converting to dice damage, and by using a modification.
Method One: my players didn't like the wound levels, since they resulted in much different feel.
Method 2: players liked it, but it was slow
replace the damage table, and since I don't have mine to hand, the first light wound was 1d3, next number was 1d6, then 1d6+1d3, 2d6, 3d6, 4d6, 5d6, 6d6, etc
Method 3: (Pen+2d6-AV)*(Bk 1 Damage Dice as integer) damage to atts.
So a pen 5 rifle with 4d gets (5+2d6-AV)*(4). I then had players roll 1d6 at a time, and apply it to stats as normal, until down to 6 or less remaining, at which point the remainder was treated as a single die.
Worked well, but a bit slower. Players didn't really grok the why.
MT is essentially a variation on Striker/AHL as well (Pen is the same number as in Striker/AHL, and AV differs only above 100...)
Method One: my players didn't like the wound levels, since they resulted in much different feel.
Method 2: players liked it, but it was slow
replace the damage table, and since I don't have mine to hand, the first light wound was 1d3, next number was 1d6, then 1d6+1d3, 2d6, 3d6, 4d6, 5d6, 6d6, etc
Method 3: (Pen+2d6-AV)*(Bk 1 Damage Dice as integer) damage to atts.
So a pen 5 rifle with 4d gets (5+2d6-AV)*(4). I then had players roll 1d6 at a time, and apply it to stats as normal, until down to 6 or less remaining, at which point the remainder was treated as a single die.
Worked well, but a bit slower. Players didn't really grok the why.
MT is essentially a variation on Striker/AHL as well (Pen is the same number as in Striker/AHL, and AV differs only above 100...)
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
Over the past few months (since getting them on the CD) I've been trying to make an adaptation of the AHL rules. The Book 1 system was too abstract for me. As Aramis says, the damage rules give a different feel. My thoughts at present are to make Light wounds 1D6 per characteristic, Serious Wounds 2D6 per characteristic, and modify 'Death' to Mortal Wounds at 3D6 per characteristic. I've not playtested it yet though, and I'm making lots of other tweaks.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Back in the day we never really liked the CT combat matrices, so AHL was adapted immediately. When Striker was published it provided even more toys for the players - and the JotTAS article for adapting Striker to CT personal combat made it even better.
I still have al the idex cards we made for all the weapons, armour, and an interesting one with a hit location system on it (I can't remember where that came from originally though - White Dwarf I think).
I still have al the idex cards we made for all the weapons, armour, and an interesting one with a hit location system on it (I can't remember where that came from originally though - White Dwarf I think).
Rhialto the Marvelous
SOC-13
Last year I sat down with AHL and Snapshot to see which I'd use when/if I get the opportunity to GM Traveller again. Snapshot won hands down, but being a flake I can't for the life of me remember why.
Some people recommend At Close Quarters by BITS, but its realism is supposed to be bought off with complexity.
Some people recommend At Close Quarters by BITS, but its realism is supposed to be bought off with complexity.
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
Now I went the other way, preferring AHL, and I can't remember why either. I think I preferred the extra realism, but I also thought the ACQ was too complex. AHL was 'just right' - well, maybe after I've added a few houserules...
I've been lifting ideas from other RPGs out there too, and I'm far from finished yet.
Rhialto the Marvelous
SOC-13
But isn't AHL identical to Snapshot except for those tiny differences which are so crucial I can't remember them?
In any case, playing Arrival Vengeance using those awesome AHL deckplans is one of my Trav GM dreams.
No. HUGE differences.
Striker and AHL are mechanically very close.
SNAPSHOT is literally Bk1 combat plus action points.
o:
I started playing CT in 77 when it was first published. As a result I had to make everything from scratch so my universe became famous for my "tinkering". Striker was a Godsend to me when it came out because it allowed me to integrate all levels of weapons/damage/vehicles/starships together in one smooth system.
And it's been fun ever since to tinker with.
The players liked Striker for the most part because it was fast and simple in execution and they now know exactly what a 500MW ship laser would do to the pursuing hovertanks hot on thier heels after some smuggling job went south.
I did modify the damage to 1D/2D/3D/4D (lt/md/hvy/special) so as not to kill everyone off in every gunfight. Energy and explosive weapons always bumped to the next level of damage so they tended to be as dangerous as I think they ought to be. The "special" level was added by me to account for this. SO "Death" on the Striker damage table by an enegery/HE round was bumped to "Special". This was done mainly only for Player Characters and "Named" NPC's. All the redshirts used the basic Stariker damage so I could keep the action moving.
And it's been fun ever since to tinker with.
The players liked Striker for the most part because it was fast and simple in execution and they now know exactly what a 500MW ship laser would do to the pursuing hovertanks hot on thier heels after some smuggling job went south.
I did modify the damage to 1D/2D/3D/4D (lt/md/hvy/special) so as not to kill everyone off in every gunfight. Energy and explosive weapons always bumped to the next level of damage so they tended to be as dangerous as I think they ought to be. The "special" level was added by me to account for this. SO "Death" on the Striker damage table by an enegery/HE round was bumped to "Special". This was done mainly only for Player Characters and "Named" NPC's. All the redshirts used the basic Stariker damage so I could keep the action moving.
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
Heh, that could be my early autobiography you've written there, Sabredog, except my damage mods were a little harsher, 1D,2D,3D per characteristic.
However, I've since borrowed a lot of stuff from later versions of Traveller and from other games.
Welcome to the board.
However, I've since borrowed a lot of stuff from later versions of Traveller and from other games.
Welcome to the board.
Originally I did the same thing with damage, but it killed off too many players too often. The compromise I came up with early on (pre-Striker) was to take the first hit off one random characteristic, then any following hits were distributed by the player.
That did two things that worked out pretty well:
1) Since players were knocked out sometimes in the first round of battle they were more cautious than previously about going to guns. It made character role-play more interesting and fun. And since I spread out the damage more it mean't that when combat was joined it would last long enough to give us all time to inject heroic action and dramatics. Jeez, under Mercenary rules alone Gauss Rifles were so deadly I had to outlaw them for private citizens because you could even drop a guy in battle dress with one on automatic fire.
2) While I wanted to make sure energy and explosive weapons were extra deadly, as I think they ought to be (besides, this put snub pistols and laser pistols back in the game as really useful weapons even outside zero-g), I wanted them to still be forgiving enough that they wouldn't just kill players all the time. There always (IMHO) has to be that chance, even if slim, that the player might survive otherwise I've found they just get too discouraged. On the other hand, 3-4d6 is nothing to sneer at if you've already taken a hit.
In addition I added a rule that for aimed shots, if you wanted to shoot last you could add your skill to the penetration value of the weapon you are using. This way the players could maximize the damage they inflicted. But since the first hit they took might also take the player out it was a calculated risk to try this.
But it added more options for role-play: one character with a Laser Pistol-5 and a high Dex was fearsome enough in battle that even the other players started to fear him. One day his luck ran out and the player never again tried that sharpshooting tactic even though the character survived. The taunting was epic.
That did two things that worked out pretty well:
1) Since players were knocked out sometimes in the first round of battle they were more cautious than previously about going to guns. It made character role-play more interesting and fun. And since I spread out the damage more it mean't that when combat was joined it would last long enough to give us all time to inject heroic action and dramatics. Jeez, under Mercenary rules alone Gauss Rifles were so deadly I had to outlaw them for private citizens because you could even drop a guy in battle dress with one on automatic fire.
2) While I wanted to make sure energy and explosive weapons were extra deadly, as I think they ought to be (besides, this put snub pistols and laser pistols back in the game as really useful weapons even outside zero-g), I wanted them to still be forgiving enough that they wouldn't just kill players all the time. There always (IMHO) has to be that chance, even if slim, that the player might survive otherwise I've found they just get too discouraged. On the other hand, 3-4d6 is nothing to sneer at if you've already taken a hit.
In addition I added a rule that for aimed shots, if you wanted to shoot last you could add your skill to the penetration value of the weapon you are using. This way the players could maximize the damage they inflicted. But since the first hit they took might also take the player out it was a calculated risk to try this.
But it added more options for role-play: one character with a Laser Pistol-5 and a high Dex was fearsome enough in battle that even the other players started to fear him. One day his luck ran out and the player never again tried that sharpshooting tactic even though the character survived. The taunting was epic.
